Exploding gasoline (Army days using an immersion water heater someone hadn't set up properly--good thing I was wearing glasses) cost me two eyebrows.

As an organic chemist and microbiologist almost as long ago, some buffoon spilled 95%etoh across my lab table and across a bunsen burner. Pretty pale flame, no explosion. Just a fire extinguisher and some quick butt kicking.

Um, Mogan_David, ethanol is no where near as explosively combustable as gasoline, right? Flammable though. Almost an invisible flame

Orgulasmaggot,

While I do admit to a little hyperbole in my comparison, I'm not exaggerating very much. Check out this web site: http://www2.ncsu.edu/ehs/www99/right/handsMan/lab/flam.html You'll see that gasoline and alcohol are both classified as "Class 1B" flammable liquids. Now if you feel comfortable concentrating alcohol vapor in an enriched oxygen environment, then knock yourself out. Just don't forget to invite me to the weenie roast afterward.

Seriously, I work in hospitals every day, and I've been to the Shriner's Burn Center in Galveston. The things I've seen are not something I'd wish on anyone.

Wolf, I disagree. All the old protocols describe absinthe as "aging" to get a smooth, drinkable product. Yes, absinthe also does settle out, but the two are not the same. Freshly distilled absinthe will settle out in in a few days. The smoother flavors of absinthe take a few months in order to be brought forth.

I, for one, am happy that the manufacturers did not let Un Emile settle for a year before the release;-). At least with the newer ones, I couldn't bear it if I heard about such a superior product was sitting somewhere in barrels. Maybe this is why Segarra appears to a better product that other Spanish. La Fee would likely benefit from this practice as well.

The funky taste that I encountered was not so much still shock, as it was a distillation either pushed to excess, or at too high a temperature. Time has tempered the funky fish smell. It is still there, but much diminished. I think Emile 68 is a fine product.

It's getting pretty darn tasty, eh? Glad I'm not the only one to notice. I guess the initial hubub about funky tastes and smells turns out to be moot. Maybe if they would let it sit for a month or so before packing it off....

Wolfgang mentioned the phrase "still shock". Is that like "my wallet is still in shock from the price?" If only it were a little less costly, I'd love to keep a few on hand.

The old liquor making protocols (Duplais, de Brevans, Montzert) specify that most all freshly distilled liqour (and specifically absinthe)require a substanstial aging period to attain their best drinkability. In the case of Emile 68, my own observation is that the taste I, at first, found objectionable, is diminishing considerably. It is now quite drinkable.

Would I buy a premium alcohol and bubble it like this ? No. Scotch whisky are amazing when they reach over 15 years and if it was possible to bubble it to the same result in just one year, no doubt they would do it.

Get a brewer's supply catalog. You don't have to build anything; just buy one from them. It's used to oxygenate wort after the yeast is pitched (more oxygen = stronger yeast growth). Stone on one end, oxygen tank on the other. Food-safe plastic tubing connects them. With that said, I'd be surprised if it made any difference whatsover in the application you're discussing.

Hmm.. Oxygen + High proof alcohol + spark = BigFuckingBang

Scares the shit out of me, please be careful.

We Americans are prone to overkill, I think the best thing to do is either let the absinthe sit a month or do as Wolfgang suggested and use the half bottle method to speed things up. I am afraid that more enthusiastic methods will wind up diminishing some of the more delicate notes of the absinthe and cause it to loose some of it's character.

Whatever you do, consider safety first, real absinthe is combustible like gasoline, treat it that way.